Begin by looking at your monthly cable bill and multiplying it by 12. That's how much you pay for cable for a full year.

Begin by looking at your monthly cable bill and multiplying it by 12. That's how much you pay for cable for a full year.

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Are you a sports fan who can't miss your favorite teams? Unless they're regularly on ESPN, which will soon be available without a cable subscription, then stop here now. Cord cutting is not for you.

Are you a sports fan who can't miss your favorite teams? Unless they're regularly on ESPN, which will soon be available without a cable subscription, then stop here now. Cord cutting is not for you.

Photo: Houston Chronicle

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Are you a news junkie who lives with MSNBC or Fox News on all the time? Cord cutting may not be for you. If you're a CNN fan, you may be able to get by with the $20-a-month ESPN standalone package called Sling TV, which includes CNN and AMC as well. less

Are you a news junkie who lives with MSNBC or Fox News on all the time? Cord cutting may not be for you. If you're a CNN fan, you may be able to get by with the $20-a-month ESPN standalone package called Sling ... more

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Write down all the shows you and your family like to watch. Go to iTunes, Amazon Video on Demand and Google Play and check the prices for season subscriptions. Figure you'll pay a subscription fee for each series once a year, and add them up. less

Write down all the shows you and your family like to watch. Go to iTunes, Amazon Video on Demand and Google Play and check the prices for season subscriptions. Figure you'll pay a subscription fee for each ... more

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Do you currently subscribe to Netflix, Hulu or some other streaming service? Or do you plan to once you drop cable? Will you pay $15 a month for HBO Now, $20 a month for Sling TV or $50 a month for Sony's PlayStation Vue? Note the monthly and annual costs for those. less

Do you currently subscribe to Netflix, Hulu or some other streaming service? Or do you plan to once you drop cable? Will you pay $15 a month for HBO Now, $20 a month for Sling TV or $50 a month for Sony's ... more

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Do you have a smart TV with a built-in Wi-Fi connection? If not, you may need to buy a streaming TV box, such as Apple TV, a Roku or Amazon Fire TV. You'll pay up to $99 for these, but that's a one-time cost. A cheaper alternative: Google's $35 Chromecast, though it requires you to beam content from your phone, tablet or PC to your TV. There's also Amazon's $40 Fire TV Stick and Roku's $40 Streaming Stick. less

Do you have a smart TV with a built-in Wi-Fi connection? If not, you may need to buy a streaming TV box, such as Apple TV, a Roku or Amazon Fire TV. You'll pay up to $99 for these, but that's a one-time cost. ... more

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If you're bundling your Internet service with cable TV, research the cost of having standalone Internet. When you don't pair cable and Internet service, the cost usually increases. In addition, check to see if your current provider has a limit on the amount of data you can use each month. You may need to switch providers if the cap is too low. less

If you're bundling your Internet service with cable TV, research the cost of having standalone Internet. When you don't pair cable and Internet service, the cost usually increases. In addition, check to see if ... more

Photo: Associated Press

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Do you have your phone service as a bundle through your cable TV or Internet provider? Research the cost of having standalone, Internet-based, landline phone service, such as through Vonage.

Do you have your phone service as a bundle through your cable TV or Internet provider? Research the cost of having standalone, Internet-based, landline phone service, such as through Vonage.

Photo: For the Chronicle

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Add up the costs you'd pay if you dropped cable. Is it significantly less than paying your monthly cable TV bill? If so, congratulations – you're a candidate for cord cutting.

Add up the costs you'd pay if you dropped cable. Is it significantly less than paying your monthly cable TV bill? If so, congratulations – you're a candidate for cord cutting.

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Report: HBO Now streaming service to cost $15 a month

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HBO executives have said that streaming-only version of its service was in the works, giving hope to cord cutters that they wouldn’t have to resort to borrowing friends’ logins to HBO Go to keep up with “Game of Thrones”. Now, a report in the International Business Times puts some flesh on those bones.

The IBT says the service, to be called HBO Now, will cost just $15 a month. HBO is in talks with Apple to be a launch partner, offering the new service via the company’s Apple TV streaming box. It will co-exist with the existing HBO Go, which is designed to let current subscribers to the HBO watch on remote devices and streaming boxes.

If all goes well, HBO Now will launch in time for the start of the new season of “Game of Thrones” on April 12. But the IBT story indicates it may not launch if Major League Baseball Advanced Media, which is building the streaming system, can’t guarantee that it will work under heavy loads. In the past, HBO Go has been plagued by glitches when many people try to stream popular shows at once.

Some of the cable TV companies that carry HBO are interested in including HBO Now as a bundled offer with their Internet-access service. But others – including Time Warner Cable and Comcast – reportedly are resistant. TWC and Comcast have proposed a merger and are awaiting regulatory approval, which may or may not be granted.

The growth of cord cutting has been slow and steady, but analysts think HBO being offered without a cable subscription could start a domino effect. From an earlier IBT story:

As a percentage of the total population, the number of people interested in HBO’s Web-only offering is relatively slim, just 17 percent, according to the Parks survey. Yet if half of that population does in fact decide to cut its cords, it will still dramatically shrink the overall size of the pay-TV market.

It could also cause a domino effect. According to separate research conducted by the Diffusion Group, about 15 percent of all pay-TV subscribers are, at any given time, considering getting rid of their cable TV subscriptions for so-called “over the top” or OTT services which bypass the cable box.

“This shift to the use of OTT on the TV screen will impact the entire ecosystem,” Parks Associates’ Director of Research Brett Sappington said. As more and more people, especially the young people who are ambivalent about subscriptions already, grow accustomed to the idea of paying for smaller bundles of content that can be accessed on any number of devices, we could see change continue.

Looks like 2015 is turning out to be the year of the cord cutter. If you currently have traditional cable TV, does this news make you more interested in going streaming-only?